270 
and one which was not unfamiliar to the undivided Indo- 
Iranians. Areimanios, says Plutarch, sprang from the dark- 
ness, zophos, i.e. the west, as zephuros is the western wind. 
Hence he is identical in concept with Erebos, the gloom after 
sunset.* 
15. Mithra. 
With the exception of Ahuramazda himself, no name is 
more famous in Iranian religious-mythology than that of 
Mithra, “ the Friend,” the Yedic Mitra, the divinity of beam- 
ing light, and hence the Sun-god; not by any means the 
solar photosphere crudely regarded as a sentient being. In 
the Mihr-Yasht , or “ Invocation to Mithra,” Ahuramazda 
declares — 
“ When I created Mithra, I created him as worthy of 
honour, 
As praiseworthy, as I myself, Ahuramazda.” 
Of Mithra M. Lenormant remarks that his “ origin is not 
clearly explained in what remains of the Zoroastrian books 
but that he “ seems to have sprung from Ormuzd, and to have 
been consubstantial ivitli him.” He was the “judge after 
death. His name, title, and high position in the Mazdean 
faith unquestionably belong to the most ancient phase of this 
religion.”! Elsewhere X he alludes to a passage “ which has 
much puzzled the commentators,” “ the two divine Mithras.” § 
I understand Spiegel to interpret this of the sun and the 
planet Jupiter, but as the sun is mentioned almost immediately 
after, and is styled “ the eye of Ahuramazda and Mithra,” I 
suppose rather that “the two divine Friends ” are Ahuramazda 
and Mithra themselves. Now Mithra is almost the only divine 
personage besides Ahuramazda to whom, in the more archaic 
portion of the Avesta, a distinct, objective, actual, sentient 
existence is undoubtedly attributed. Thus we read — 
“ Mithra (who bestows) good dwelling on the Aryan 
regions, 
May he come to us for protection, for joy, 
For mercy, for healing, for victory, for hallowing, 
Mithra will I honour with offerings, 
Will I draw near to as a Friend with prayer. 
Give us the favours wo pray thee for, 0 Hero, 
Kingdom, strength, victoriousness, sanctilication, and 
purity of soul, 
* Vide p. 17, note +. 
J Chaldean Magic, 23G. 
t Ancient History of the East, ii. 33. 
§ Yasna, i. 29. 
